Marketing Planning for Growth: A View From the Port

In 1960 Theodore Levitt pointed to the dangers of practicing “marketing myopia,” in his classic article of the same name. Levitt urged organizations to define their scope broadly in order to take advantage of growth opportunities. This article illustrates how and why Levitt’s remarks continue to pose major challenges to contemporary organizations---especially to those in pursuit of global growth opportunities. In the spirit of the Levitt article, the author provides a marketing planning model based on analysis of selected port development within the U.S. and overseas. Topics involve several subsets of management and strategy: as examples, the role and importance of relationship marketing, the interrelationships of logistics (to include transportation and supply chain management), new product ’service development, and promotional strategy. Both the illustrations and the model provide insight across industries as to how contemporary organizations must position themselves for growth-both at home and in overseas environments.